Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sri Lankan shares came down Tuesday on fears that a 1.9 billion Dollar International Monetary Fund bailout may be delayed, while the Rupee weakened against the dollar, brokers and dealers said. The Rupee opened at 117.05/117.25 and fell to 117.25/0117.45 levels by late afternoon trade.

The All Share Price Index closed down 0.60 percent (11.47 points) on the stock market to end at 1,888.62 while the Milanka index of liquid stocks closed up 0.14 percent (2.80 points) to end at 2,051.53, according to provisional stock exchange figures. Turnover was almost 180 million Rupees. "The concerns over the IMF facility and profit taking dragged the market down," said Geeth Balasuriya of Acuity Stockbrokers. "However, during the latter part of the day, the indices recovered on bargain hunting by mainly retail investors".

British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, indicated Britain does not support Sri Lanka's request for the IMF loan, when he spoke to the media about the situation in the island ahead of a meeting at the United Nations on Monday.

"I think you'll find that the issue is not coming up at the IMF today," Miliband said when asked whether the UK supports the IMF loan application by Sri Lanka.

"It's essential that any government is able to show that it will use any IMF money in a responsible and appropriate way and, as I explained in the House of Commons last week, I don't think that is yet the case (in Sri Lanka)."

Britain and other western powers and Sri Lanka's main aid donors have been pressing for a halt to the government offensive against the Tamil Tiger remnants, to try to avoid civilian casualties.

Trading in Janashakthi Insurance shares in the meantime was temporarily halted on the Colombo bourse after the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka suspended its licence for three weeks and stopped it from issuing new general and long term (life) insurance policies. Janashakthi closed flat at 8.00 Rupees.Conglomerate John Keells Holdings, which has interests in finance, transport, property development, food processing and retail sectors, lost 25 cents to close at 77.00.

Market index heavy fixed line giant Sri Lanka Telecom lost 25 cents to close at 39.00 while National Development Bank lost 2.25 rupees to close at 93.00, while Hatton National Bank lost one rupee to close at 94.00. Tokyo Cement lost 4.00 rupees to close at 135.00 on thin volume trade. Sri Lanka's largest privately held bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon,

lost 2.00 rupees to close at 94.00. Ceylon Tobacco Company, a local unit of British American Tobacco lost 3.75 rupees to close at 115.25, while Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka gained 1.75 rupees to close at 82.25. - LBO

Saturday, May 9, 2009

At least one person was killed and nine injured when an armed gang opened fire at crowds who were coming after Friday prayers from the Maligawatte Jumma Mosque, police said.

They said according to initial investigations it appeared to be linked to rivalry among underworld gangs in the area.

An armed gang of about six had stormed the Mosque on Jumma Masjid Road in Maligawatte around 1.30 pm and started searching for a person or group who were believed to have been engaged in routine Friday prayers.

The gang had reportedly come in a vehicle while three of them had been armed with rifles similar to T-56 weapons. They had entered the Mosque while the prayers were almost coming to an end.

They had started looking for somebody and had pacified the frightened people saying they would not be harmed, an eyewitness said.

Meanwhile the remaining members of the group who were outside the Mosque had entered into a small passage leading to a row of houses and started firing at a person.

All the armed men had then started firing at crowds gathered outside the Mosque after prayers and had fled the scene.

Police Spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara told the Daily Mirror that the injured were rushed to the National Hospital and one of them had reportedly died on admission.

The victim had been identified as 30-year-old M Sadal – a butcher believed to be living in the Jumma Masjid Road area.

Unconfirmed eyewitness accounts revealed that one of the armed intruders was also injured in crossfire when another group had retaliated.

A large number of spent cartridges believed to be of T-56 rifles were found scattered along the road.............................................................................

Muslim leaders condemn attack

By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera

Muslim political leaders roundly condemned yesterday’s Maligawatte shooting incident which killed one person and injured nine, and called for the government to arrest the dangerous trend.

SLMC General Secretary MP Hasan Ali said the sanctity of places of religious worship should be preserved, and the government should take steps in this regard. Otherwise, Mr. Ali said this would lead to an unpleasant and complicated situation in the future.

“In the run up to the Western Provincial Council election, there were many underworld attacks in the Maligawatte area. We cannot link this incident to the same underworld groups. At the same time, we cannot rule out such connections either,” he said.

UNP front liner Azath Sally said yesterday’s shooting incident had created a dangerous trend. “Allowing underworld gangs to carry automatic weapons makes the security in Colombo city bleak,” he said.

He said in the wake of these incidents it has become unsafe for Muslims even to go to the mosques in the Colombo City.

He said it was too early to establish any political link to the incident.

Eastern Provincial Council Health Minister M.L.A.M Hizbullah said no one could condone these attacks near a place of religious worship, and the responsibility lies squarely with the government to bring the perpetrators to book

Mr. Hizbullah said this incident bears the hallmark of an underworld conspiracy.

“We are on the verge of finishing off LTTE terrorism. At this hour, we should not allow the underworld to disrupt the country’s normalcy,” he said.

(Updated from the TCHR reports submitted in March 2001 and March 2007) ICCPR*- International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsICESCR - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural RightsICERD- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial DiscriminationCEDAW* - Convention on the elimination of Discrimination against WomenCAT - Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment....CRC* - Convention on the Rights of the Child* optional protocols